Ashes Make for Great Soil
by Loudest Tom
Summary: Sarutobi Hiruzen, the God of Shinobi, has stood the test of time for over 200 years. But now, his dwindling lifespan tells him that he must prepare the Leaf for the power vacuum that shall come in the wake of his end. And it's with this newest generation that he rest his hopes on. This generation concerning two knuckleheads, a genius,and a mentor snake.
1. Prelude to God's Final Fight

**Hello there, I'm Duedate and this is my first ever piece of fanfiction. Hopefully you enjoy and wish to follow this story as I tell a tale of Naruto that is of my own making.**

 **Disclaimer** **: I own and have made nothing but the plot and some techniques.**

Men are peculiar animals.

Unlike most animals, they were capable of much more than fight or flight when faced with life or death.

Unlike most animals, they were able to think out and deliberate on their course of action when dropped into extreme situations.

This was a truth.

This has to be true.

Because if not, would you **please** explain to me why Sarutobi Hiruzen was currently sitting flat on his ass atop his own rocky head, calmly enjoying a smoke from his pipe as the Kyuubi rampaged towards his village.

"Minato, I retired and let you take control so you could deal with problems like this." Hiruzen took a long drawn out smoke from the lightly gripped pipe in his right hand, the sounds of dying men and women saddening but not surprising to the now retired Kage. "But now, you're nowhere to be found as this demon approaches the village I've fought so hard to protect all my life."

Hiruzen let out a sigh as he stared at the raging flames and destruction created by the Kyuubi that only grew larger and closer to his home as he continued to smoke.

"Then again, I shouldn't really complain. Afterall, I'm not out their taking the beast on."

Hiruzen, using only his left hand, quickly flashed through a series of seals before slamming his palm down next to him.

"Yet."

 _POOF!_

"Hiruzen, is that the Kyuubi no Kitsune I see?"

The Monkey King Emna now stood next to his summoner, his question coming out as more of a tired statement than anything else.

"Of course not, your old eyes are just playing tricks on you." Hiruzen said before taking another puff of his pipe, his tone dead and uninterested. This got a dry chuckle from Enma that was then followed with a more serious question.

"I'm assuming by the fact that you've summoned me and your attire, that you plan on fighting that beast?"

Hiurzen took another puff, before looking over himself. As Enma pointed out, he was dressed in his shinobi garb, a black jumpsuit with a mesh covering underneath and a single green gauntlet covering his right arm. He wore an armored head piece with his headband worn over it. The only thing missing from his attire was his sandals which were to his side.

"Yes."

Enma let out a sigh, his eyes drifting towards the west end of the village. A trench had been torn into the ground, every building and home that had previously been there completely destroyed.

"Old friend, your 210. Your body is far passed its prime and your chakra coils have nearly collapsed due to the strain. Go back just a decade and you wouldn't even be troubled by the Kyuubi, but now, a fight like this could kill you. Why not have Kushina, Minato, or Jiraiya handle this and just rest?"

Hiruzen let out a snort, his own eyes going to other side of the village where only a myriad of craters and the rubble from destroyed buildings remained.

"Jiraiya is out of the village, and my successor and his wife are currently nowhere to be found. As of now, I'm our villages greatest chance of survival Enma and you know this. Plus," A grin came to Hiruzen's face, "It's been forever since I've felt my blood pumping, I'm a bit excited at the chance to have another bout. Especially with an old time foe such as the Kyuubi." Hiruzen turned to face his close companion, "Don't you feel the same way Enma?"

The Monkey King stared back at his friend for a few moments in silence, before chuckling dryly and returning Hiruzen's grin.

"If we do this, you're gonna need to prepare your body for combat."

Hiruzen chuckled again, before taking one final drawn out puff of his pipe and exhaling the smoke.

"Why do you think I've yet to let all that smoke I've puffed disperse yet?"

High above Hiruzen's actual head, hung a chakra rich cloud of smoke that now covered the entirety of Konoha. Hiruzen then closed his eyes and set aside his pipe, before filling his lungs with chakra and sharply inhaling. With only a single intake of breath, Hiruzen managed to inhale the entirety of the smoke cloud without issue.

After a few coughs, the retired Hokage opened his eyes and revealed them to now be golden with the parting of his lips revealing his now more monkey-like fangs. With these visible changes to his appearance, Hiruzen also felt a grand sense of rejuvenation and power fill him.

'I have twenty minutes to go. Let's not waste any more time than needed."

Rising to his feet with a grin, Hiruzen slid his sandals on and held out his hand to Enma, the Monkey King quickly morphing into his staff state and landing in his wielders outstretched palm. As soon as Enma touched his palm, the aged shinobi felt both of their chakra networks flow together and the two become one of the same mind. Twirling the staff twice, Hiruzen filled his lungs with chakra once again before letting out a shout that was heard far and wide.

"NINJA OF THE HIDDEN LEAF VILLAGE, I CALL FOR YOU TO RETREAT! I REPEAT BEGIN YOUR RETREAT BACK HOME! THAT IS AN ORDER! I WILL HANDLE THE THREAT OF THE KYUUBI ALONE!"

Though Hiruzen was unable to see all those on the battlefield, the aged man knew that most of the ninja would have enough faith in him to began their retreat in full force.

"Sandaime-sama!" A dark haired jonin with two scars across his face and his hair in the style of a spikey ponytail, wearing the standard clothes of a Konoha jonin landed before Hiruzen with a kneel.

"Hi there Shikaku. How may I help you?"

The now named Shikaku looked up at the retired kage with a look of worry and fear.

"Do you truly plan to take on that monster by yourself sir?"

"Yes."

"Sir, if I may, why not have the support of your shinobi as you do such an act? Wouldn't it be much safer that way?"

Hiruzen grinned down at Shikaku before patting him on the head with his empty hand and saying,

"Son, I purposely called back all of you for both my safety and yours."

"What do you mean by that sir?"

"What I mean by that is that you would all just be in my way, plus, our casualties have already reached the thousands. Let's have no more than necessary tonight."

"But sir, you're not as young or as strong as you used to be. Battling the Kyuubi on your own seems suicidal."

Hiruzen chuckled once again, before ruffling the hair of Shikaku.

"Skikuka," Hiruzen's tone became more serious, "I need you to get some Inzuka members and Kakashi and have them locate either Kushina or her new kid. If you find Kushina alive, send her my way. And if she's dead and/or if you find her kid first let me know as soon as possible through a signal above the village. Time is of the essence Shikaku, only one of those two can hope to contain the Kyuubi and neither seem to be within five kilometers of the village. Though that might just be my sensing skills having grown poor over the last decade."

"But Lord Thir- "

" **RAWWWRRR!** "

Hiruzen looked towards the Kyuubi and a small smile came to his face as vast amounts of ying and yang chakra began to condense and converge in front of the monster's mouth.

"And you're right, I'm not as strong as I used to be." Hiruzen's small smile morphed into a vicious grin as he looked back at Shikaku, "The Kyuubi just might make me sweat now."

And with those words, Hiruzen took his hand from Shikaku's head and leaped off his head atop the Hokage Monument and towards the Kyuubi. Sailing across the village and much of the nearby forest in a single bound, Hiruzen raised his staff over his head with both hands and enlarged it to the point that it was nearly a kilometer long before slamming the giant pillar like staff onto the head of the raging beast.

 **BOOM!**

Dust, dirt, and trees flew into the air as the Kyuubi's maw was slammed shut and its head was forced into the ground, the chakra the monster had been gathering dispersing harmlessly.

Hiruzen pulled his staff off the head of the Kyuubi and tossed it into the air without ever shrinking it down. Instead, he chose to utilize one of the unique facets offered to him as a sage of the monkeys.

 **BOOM!**

The Kyuubi began to lift its head but a single hand wrapping around its jaw and snout halted any attempts of this. This hand then dragged the Kyuubi's head up until it was eye level with a newly enlarged Hiruzen. The beast fruitlessly clawed at the man's chest, its claws only able cut into the mans clothing and bounce off his skin.

"Hmm." Hiruzen pondered aloud as he stared into the snarling beast's eyes, the Sharigan within them bringing problematic thoughts to his mind, "It seems someone is gonna have to have a chat with the Uchiha's after this."

 **WHAM!**

One of the Kyuubi's tails smacked Hiruzen across his face, dog sized spittle filling the air as the man's head snapped to the side. But instead of letting go of the beast, the Sandaime lifted its head higher until its torso was exposed. He then used his right hand to ram his newly caught staff into the Kyuubi's belly, a roar of pain filling the air as the adamantine dug into its form. Moving his mouth to the monster's left ear, Hiruzen simply said,

"Now that was just rude."

Hiruzen then let go of the Kyuubi's head before willing his staff to extend. The monster was launched into the sky and over scores of forestry before Hiruzen grabbed his staff with his other hand and used both to slam the Kyuubi into the ground once more.

'Ten mintues left Hiruzen,' Enma told the retiree through their mental link, 'Now that we've gotten the Kyuubi further away from the village you should shrink, unless you've forgotten just how costly your _**Chikyū no Henkei: Kyodai**_ is.'

'Yeah, yeah Enma. I'll shrink in a sec.'

Hiruzen leaped up into the sky, shrinking both himself and his staff down as he flew towards the Kyuubi. Landing within two seconds of his jump, Hiruzen slid to a stop just before he could touch the Kyuubi's nose.

The Kyuubi attempted to bite down upon the Sarutobi, but the man quickly blurred out of the way and reappeared above the beast with his staff held behind his back with his left hand while his right was rearing back for a punch.

" _ **Tetsuzaru no Nigirikobushi!**_ "

 **BOOM!**

The Sandaime's hand rapidly gained a fur covering before it struck the Kyuubi in its head, slamming it into the ground once again. With another cloud of debris and dirt forming, Hiruzen flashed through another set of single handed hand seals before filling his lungs with chakra and puffing up his cheeks.

' _ **Fūton: Daitoppa!**_ '

Sarutobi exhaled a massive gust of wind that easily cleared the air of the dust and dirt that filled it.

With that out of the way, Hiruzen adjusted his position atop the Kyuubi's snout and looked it in the eyes with a grin still on his face, each of its eyes nearly twice his size.

"You know Kyuubi no Kitsune, it's nice to fight you again after over 115 years. Though back then, I was much stronger, and you were much smarter and in control."

Though the Kyuubi looked at Hiruzen in pure rage and malice, the retiree knew that it would be a second before the creature could move since nature chakra now paralyzed it.

"After all, even before our battle, you knew the nature of the Senjutsu utilized by the Monkeys. Like how it made them immortal and invulnerable. That's why when I tried that exact same stunt of grabbing you by the snout in our original bout, you knocked me off my feet with your tails and then pinned me to the ground before hitting me with two fully powered **Bijūdama** right in the face!"

Hiruzen began to laugh fondly as the memory came to his mind.

"That stung like a bitch."

A sudden spike of chakra from Konoha caused Hiruzen to snap his head towards the village, a flash of light occurring above the village. A frown came to Hiruzen's face before he turned back to the Kyuubi.

"It looks like you're getting a new container tonight. What a shame." Hiruzen did a quick tilt of his head, "For us, for you it might just be a chance to finally like one of your-"

A slight twitch was the only warning Hiruzen received before the Kyuubi snapped its head upwards and launched him into the sky. Quickly righting his tumultuous spinning, Hiruzen found himself looking down upon the Kyuubi as it once again began condensing and gathering ying and yang chakra before its mouth.

"Hmm. You're not as fun when you're doing stupid things." Hiruzen said to himself as he readied his staff to strike the Kyuubi again. "Now let's muzzle you one las- Did you just lose your Sharigan?"

Instead of attempting to charge its attack any further, the Kyuubi preemptively swallowed its bomb. Inflating much less than normal, the monster then dropped its head and aimed towards Konoha.

"SHIT!" Hiruzen shouted before angling his body towards the village and throwing his staff like a spear.

The weapon flew towards the village with a boom just as the Kyubi opened its mouth and a beam of destruction was let loose.

'SHIT! SHIT! SHIT! YOU'RE AN IDIOT HIRUZEN!' The Sandaime thought as his perception of time slowed, watching helplessly as the beam grew closer and closer to the village.

1 second.

The beam was a fourth of the way there, everything within its path being incinerated.

2 seconds.

The journey was already halfway done, with the fire that raised the forest being forced to wrap around the attack as it traveled.

3 seconds.

It was nearly there, and though it wouldn't come close to completing destroying the village, the attack would most definitely be costly for the people of the leaf.

4 seconds.

It was going to hit. There was nothing there to stop it. Hiruzen almost wanted to close his eyes-

 _POOF!_

That was until he found himself right in front of it.

 **BOOM!**

"That was a close one."

Dust and the debris from a few destroyed buildings was kicked up as a supersized Hiruzen stood right before the gates of Konoha, the kage having taken the full brunt of the lesser **Bijūdama**.

With a few heavy and shaky breaths leaving him, Hiruzen returned his attention to the Kyuubi. The beast looked even angrier than before, its legs set in position that betrayed their readiness to charge and its tails having begun to grow more frantic in their motions. But before the Kyuubi could take a step forward a little something landed atop of it.

 **BOOM!**

Hiruzen felt the ground shake beneath his feet as his now mountain sized staff completely crushed the Kyuubi beneath its weight.

Hiruzen felt a foreign chakra emit from a seal on his shoulder as yellow flash appeared to quickly be replaced by a blonde haired man, wearing the robes of the Hokage with a small bundle nestled between his arms.

"Hey Hiruzen, you've been busy."

"And you haven't Minato. Where have you been?"

The Yondaime shrugged, his robe blowing in the wind as he looked over the wreckage that had befallen his village and the surrounding area.

"Ah you know, busy having my kid."

The Sandaime sighed exasperatedly.

"Speaking of your kid, where's your wife?"

"Dead."

Hiruzen could only let another sigh, this one tired as he merely confirmed what he was already sure of.

"How?"

"The answer pains me too much to say."

Hiruzen sighed once again.

"Then I guess I'll just have to ask you later."

A nervous chuckle left Minato.

"Quick question, how much longer can you maintain your current state?"

"One minute, why?"

Minato looked down to the bundle in his arms before letting out a sigh of his own.

"Then you're going to have to wait a lot longer to get that answer you want."

Warning bells immediately went off in Hiruzn's head, several thoughts flowing through his mind before finally settling on one.

"You mean to use the _**Shiki Fūjin**_."

Minato chuckled once again, this one dead and grim.

"You figured me out so quickly. And you also know just why that's the one that needs to be used."

"You seek to finally give Konoha its first ever combatant Jinchuriki. One that actually utilizes the power of their tailed beast." Hiuzen words were said with a tone of dissatisfaction and disappointment.

"You won't live forever Hiruzen." Minato responded, having already expected this response from the old man, "Even now, you've fallen far from grace. And when the day comes that you're no longer around, the enemies of our village will try in mass to extinguish our flame."

"Shintai. But why not let me do it, and leave you to raise your child and prepare our home?"

"It's simple really. Because while I might one day prove to be great leader, I might one day prove to be exactly what this village needed, I **might** be able to prepare and arm all of our men, women, and children for the big change that is terrifyingly close, why fix something that ain't broke?"

"But Minato-"

"HIRUZEN!"

The sudden shout, surprised the retired Kage and the bundle within the current one's arms, causing a crying noise to began to fill the Kages' ears.

"Tonight I met a man with a Sharingan, who easily murdered all of the guards for my wife and ripped the Kyuubi from her body. I briefly fought the man and during out battle, he made it clear that what he had done was mere child's play. That he had much bigger plans in the future, and in this future that he had planned our village would not exist. Though I managed to separate him from the Kyuubi, he escaped and has now disappeared."

Minato gestured towards the entirety of Konoha with a wave of his hand.

"This was a power play, meant to set us up for catastrophe. And I believe that it was the sole intention of this individual to rid us of your protection. To have **you** , removed from the picture because even now, with your old and tired body, you can still surpass any of the living. That's only part of the reason why it has to be me who does this, why it has to be me who makes this sacrifice. Because as the Hokage of Konohagakure, I must always act in the best interest of the village. And the best interest of the village is to have you, the man who led us through two Ninja wars, you, the man who once held off three entire armies by himself and won, you, the man who has consistently gone toe to toe with worse this world has to offer and lived to tell the tale, **you** , the man who somehow happened to become the oldest ninja to ever live in the history of our world, it is you who is best prepared to set our village up for the trials and tribulations to come. So as my final order as Hokage of Konohagakure, I order you to once again take up this mantle and prepare us for the worst. Because while I might be able to do it, you sure as hell can."

And with those words, Minato flashed away presumably towards the Kyuubi no Kitsune. And Hiurzen didn't even bother chasing after him, instead choosing to solemnly stand over the home he would once again lead. After nearly an entire minute had passed, the man turned to look towards the Kyuubi, the beast looking as if it was being split in half. Hiruzen leaped towards the rapidly disappearing Kyuubi once again, landing in his normal size only after the beast had been sealed into a blonde and blue-eyed baby that struck a striking resemblance to his father, the man now laying dead with his arms protectively wrapped around the weeping child. A newly formed seal briefly showed on the kid's stomach before disappearing and leaving the area seemingly bare. Taking the crying child into his arms, Hiruzen looked down upon his dead successor and left him with these parting words.

"If you truly believe that I'm our homes best option for the future, I'll trust you on this Minato, and I'll make sure that our village stands tall even when I'm gone."

Hiruzen then smiled down at the kid in his arms, soothing the child quickly before letting out a sigh and looking up into the night sky.

"Shintai."

 **GLOSSARY:**

 **Chikyū no Henkei: Kyodai - Earthly Transformation: Giant**

 **Tetsuzaru no Nigirikobushi** \- **Iron Monkey Fist**

 **Shiki Fujin - Reaper Death Seal**

 **Bijūdama - Tailed Beast Bomb**

 **Fūton: Daitoppa - Wind Release: Great Breakthrough**

 **Shintai: Absolute Truth**

 **And that's that.**

 **I hope you enjoyed and come back for the next chapter, whenever i release that.**


	2. An Average Day, A Unique Discovery

**Hello there again, I know it's been a while but I promise I've been working on this. I'm kinda a slow writer, nonetheless I have a chapter here to be seen today and I shall now show it. Hope you like how I break my pages.**

 **Disclaimer: I own and have made nothing but the plot and some techinques.**

Solitude when taken is a blessing.

When given it's a curse.

Dawn had just broken over Konohagakure, the village looking as if it was nearly done recovering from the tragedy that had struck it nearly eleven years prior. The west sector of the village was just about done being fixed up, with only a single building being worked upon completion only a few days away while the east sector only had one to two years more for its reconstruction to be finished. At this point in the day, only a small percentage of the village was awake, most being shinobi training, arriving home from a mission, or leaving for one, while others awake were merchants who wanted to get a head start on their work.

However, who we're about to concentrate is a part of neither group, though they had just finished preparation for something done by the first group.

"Ok Naruto-san! Ready to begin our spar!?"

"Dattebayo! You're going down today Lee!"

Naruto Uzumaki and Rock Lee both stood within one of the many training clearings that filled Konohagakure, only a few meters between them. Lee was wearing what had become his standard clothing for the last two years, a green jumpsuit with orange leg warmers, a red sash around his waist, and bandages wrapped around his forearms down to his hands. His shiny black hair was a bit long, going down to his neck in fact, though eyes were more often than not drawn to his eyebrows, both being rather bushy. Naruto, unlike Lee, had a set of clothing specifically dedicated to training, this being a white shirt with a spiral on the front and back and a pair of orange shorts.

Lee stood with his right hand held in front of him, the back of the appendage facing Naruto as his left arm was held behind his back. Alongside this, Lee had his legs spread apart and his knees slightly bent in a partial horse stance. Naruto, on the other hand, held both of his arms out in front of him both slightly bent towards himself with his left arm a bit more extended than his right. Naruto's left leg was held leading his right with his left bent to the point it was nearly a right angle and his right only slightly bent forward.

"Then we'll start when that random leaf between us hits the ground!" Lee told Naruto, a gleaming smile on his face as said leaf fell became head level with Naruto and he made the _**Tairitsu no In**_ _._

"Okay then." Naruto responded as the leaf fell to the point that it was level with Lee's knees, and as he mimicked Lee's seal.

No other words were traded, as both of them watched the leaf fall to the point that it was at their ankles and then touched the ground.

Lee exploded forward, going for a wide sweeping kick at his friend's head. Naruto rushed towards his incoming assailant and caught Lee's leg with his left hand, before attempting to punch him in the stomach with his right. Lee raised his other leg to block Naruto's punch before making a partial spin that allowed him to rest his foot on Naruto's chest and use it as a springboard to get his other leg free and create some distance between the pair. As Lee landed, Naruto leaped forward and flipped into a downward kick that Lee deflected towards the ground. This was quickly followed by a quick jab towards Naruto's head that was just barely blocked with a quickly raised arm. The punch stung, the force behind it caused Naruto to lose his balance and fall back.

"Got you Naruto!" Lee exclaimed as he darted to the falling boy's side and attempted to punch him in the chest.

 _ **CRACK!**_

"GAAHH!"

Lee's head snapped to the side with a tiny spray of spit and blood as Naruto's foot slammed into his cheek and left him dazed, the blonde boy having swiftly spun the right side of his body towards Lee.

"Surprise!" Naruto shouted as he completed his spin and caught himself with one hand which he then used to push himself back up and towards the stunned Lee. This proved to be a bad idea, however, as Naruto had needed to put his back towards his training partner when coming back up.

 **WHUMP!**

"AACCK!"

One of Lee's feet slammed into Naruto's back, launching the boy away and across the clearing. Naruto rolled into a recovery, before hurriedly rising to his feet and returning to his original stance. Lee also resumed his original stance as the two stood still and studied each other closely, both breathing a bit harder than a few seconds earlier.

After a moment more of this studying, Naruto rushed towards Lee and began his attack. The blonde boy threw a punch towards his friend's head, said friend dodging to the left and then under and around the following punch. Naruto then attempted to kick Lee, with the boy catching his rising leg and shoving it back down. The blonde boy then dropped to the ground and went for a leg sweep that Lee hopped over and punished by stepping onto his opponent's face. Keeping his forward momentum, Lee flipped over Naruto while grabbing him by the head. This ripped the blondie off the ground and into the air as Lee completed his flip and threw his sparring partner, straight into-

 **WHAM!**

"Dammit! That hurt Lee!"

-a tree.

On impact, the border tree that Naruto had struck had a few leaves and twigs fall from it and into the boy's hair.

"Dynamic Entry!"

Naruto looked up to see Lee flying towards him with a kick, causing the defending boy to roll out of the way as Lee's foot struck the tree.

 _ **CRACK!**_

"Oh no, not again!" Lee shouted as his attack completely went through and got his leg stuck on the other side of the border tree.

Seeing his opening, Naruto sprung to his feet and went for his own flying kick.

"Take that Lee-"

But just before Naruto could hit Lee, the boy easily fell back out of the tree and of the way of Naruto's attack. As Lee fell back, he reached up and grabbed Naruto by the back of his shirt before spinning to his left and slamming his opponent face first into the ground.

"OOMMPPH!"

Lee then got atop of Naruto's back and pressed his left fist to the back of his head.

"And you've lost once again!" Lee said triumphantly, one of his hands pressing deeply into Naruto's back.

Naruto let out an unhappy grumble into the grass, before raising his head and admitting defeat. Lee got off of Naruto's back with no problem and offered him a hand up that was gratefully taken as both boys were now breathing mildly harder than they had when they started their spar.

"That was pretty dirty of you Lee, tricking me into believing that your leg was stuck."

Lee smiled at his friend before giving him a thumbs up and saying,

"I learned from the best!"

This caused Naruto to return Lee's smile and chuckle before pointing towards himself.

"Well then I guess that makes your victory partly mines! Which means I'm that much closer to beating you!"

For a moment, neither did anything more, until Lee let a snort that was quickly followed by one from Naruto that ended up with the pair on the ground in full out laughter. After a few minutes of this, both finally regained control of themselves and rose back up to their feet.

Wiping away a tear, Naruto walked over to Lee and offered him his left middle and forefinger. Lee happily completed the _**Watai no In**_ , his right middle and forefingers wrapping around Naruto's.

"But seriously, one day soon I'm gonna beat you Lee. Dattebayo!" Naruto said, as he redrew his hand and shoved it into his shorts pocket.

"I'll be waiting Naruto! But now that we're done with our spar it's time for our ten laps around the village!" Lee threw a fist into the air as he began to spin while running in place, "We have three hours before class starts and we still have over a thousand push-ups and sit-ups to do afterwards, so let's get going already!"

"Of course! Let's go!" Naruto smiled widely as his friend, "Morning exercise with you is always fun."

" **The Flames of Youth are best flamed in the cool before sunrise. After all, the fire of the sun is that much more beautiful after toughing the cold. "**

 **Might Guy**

 _RIIIIIINNNNNGGGG!_

The first bell of the academy rung and the students of Class 3E were settling in and having chats about a myriad of topics. While this was going on, in walked a young man with dark skin and a scar over his nose. He was wearing the standard wear of a chunin of Konoha, being a blue jumpsuit and green flak jacket, his headband tied around his forehead. This was Iruka Umino and he was the lead instructor for this class.

With a clipboard and roll sheet in hand, Iruka pulled at the collar of his jacket in discomfort before beginning to speak to the class.

"Morning class."

The students continued to mingle amongst each other, only a few actually stopping to give Iruka their attention while the rest seemingly paying no mind to the teacher.

"Morning class." Iruka tried a bit louder this time, a twitch growing in his right eye as he was still ignored by the vast majority of said class.

'I'm gonna try civility one last time.' Iruka thought to himself before clearing his throat as loudly as possible before once again saying, "Morning class."

Only a single student turned to face him this time.

A wide smile that stretched from cheek to cheek came to Iruka's face as he began molding chakra into his head and vocal cords and said under his breath,

'If that's how it's going to be-'

Iruka sharply inhaled before he activated his _**Tōbu Infurēshon no Jutsu**_.

"SHUT THE HELL UP!" Iruka shouted, his head growing to the size of a boulder as his words wrung throughout the class.

Immediately every student not where they were supposed to be moved, everyone assuming their proper positions within seconds.

Shaking his head while mumbling understand his breath about disrespectful kids, Iruka looked back up to his students and said,

"Now that I have your attention, I'll begin to call roll."

Iruka looked down at his sheet and began to call off names, looking back up to each student whenever they answered or someone else said they were absent.

"Aburame Shino."

"Here."

Iruka looked up to the student in question, finding that Shino was in his usual spot at the back of the class, shades on and tolerating the presence of Kiba. Though the Aburame appeared to be doing nothing but sitting patiently, Iruka was able to sense the network of insects that he had running throughout the classroom. The teacher didn't bother to speak about this however since the behavior was normal for Shino and just seemed to be the boy doing his own form of training while in class. Iruka also marked off Kiba since the boy was sitting next to Shino, a grin on his face as he attempted to speak with the Aburame with Akamaru asleep top of his fur-lined hood.

"Now Shino, I know you don't believe me, but I'm telling you the next spar I have with Neiji I'm beating him like no one's bui-"

 _THUMP!_

"-OWWW! Iruka-sensei what was that for!?"

Mid-sentence Iruka had flicked a small eraser towards Kiba, striking the student dead in the nose with pinpoint accuracy.

"That's for talking when you're not supposed to, now silence."

Kiba grumbled to himself before putting his head atop his desk and being quiet.

Iruka pulled at his collar again, an annoyed murmur leaving him before he got back to calling roll.

"Akimichi Choji."

"Here," Was the short reply the student gave to his teacher before returning to his smacking. Looking up, Iruka found Choji dressed in his normal haori and light green shirt in his usual spot next to a napping Shikamaru eating a bag of barbecue chips. The pair sat in the top center corner of the room.

'A position that Shikamaru specifically chose because my eyes tend to just gloss over that spot. If you weren't such a lazy bum, you'd be the top of this class."

 _THUMP!_

"Uuuuhhhh." Shikamaru groaned out as reached up to his forehead to rub the light mark a piece of chalk Iruka had hit him left behind. "I'm up sensei."

"Please stay that way Shikamaru."

"Mendōkusei." Shikamaru said to himself, before sitting up and leaning his head on his right hand while staring tiredly at Iruka.

Marking both Choji's and Shikamaru's names down as present, Iruka went through three more students before reaching one who always had something new for him to see.

"Asuka Tenten"

"Here Sensei!" The young girl's cheery and determined voice responded, Iruka's eyes finding her pink blouse with ease. Tenten was sitting with the center-left portion of the class, Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka on either side of her. The trio of friends all appeared to be doing nothing out of the ordinary, although Iruka did feel small bits of chakra gathering and swelling atop her desk.

"Tenten," One of Iruka's brows went up, "Are you making a seal on the table?"

"Maaaaybe." Tenten said, her eyes averting away from his own while a slight blush came to her cheeks.

Iruka let out a sigh, using his pencil holding hand to massage his forehead.

"We've talked about this Tenten, it's best to practice your Fūinjutsu within a specifically prepared environment so as to avoid accidents."

"But sensei look," Tenten gestured towards the seal with pride, "Nothing has gone wrong this ti-"

 **BOOM!**

Iruka let out a sigh as he watched the three girls become engulfed by an explosion. Once the smoke cleared, all three could be found covered in soot and having coughing fits.

"You were saying."

Tenten bowed her head with an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry sensei."

Iruka simply waved her off with a slight shrug before asking both Ino and Sakura,

"Are you two okay?"

"I'm fine Iruka sensei," Sakura said in between coughs with a shout, "Unlike Ino, I can handle a little smoke."

"If that was true," Ino responded in between coughs of her own, looking towards Sakura with a glare, "Then why are you coughing so hard?"

"I just need to clear my throat, pig." Sakura responded, pounding at her chest while also returning Ino's glare two-fold. "Why are you coughing so hard?"

"Same reason you said Forehead, need to clear my throat." Ino said in turn, holding a hand to her mouth as she responded.

"Stop it you two," Tenten told the pair in between her own coughs, "Just accept that we're all coughing because I messed up."

Iruka just let out another sigh and shook his head again before marking all three present and moving on with the students. Most revealed themselves to be present and attentive, allowing everything to go in quick order. That was until he was midway through the Hs.

"Hinata Hyūga." Iruka once again pulled at his collar, it feeling slightly more uncomfortable than usual.

"Here sensei."

Following the sounds of his student's meek voice, Iruka found Hinata in her usual spot near the door in the front of the class, fidgeting under his gaze and hiding partially within her coat before smiling awkwardly at him. Seeing this as normal, Iruka just nodded his head towards her.

'Still so shy. But if you keep the two you have in company close, you'll grow out of it just fine. Speaking of which-' Iruka's eyes narrowed, red flags going off in his mind as soon as he saw the student on the right of Hinata.

Next to his rather shy student was an unnaturally jittery Lee, the boy sweating bullets with the most awkward and guilty smile imaginable on his face.

"Lee?"

"YES SIR! IRUKA-SENSEI SIR!" Lee shouted, suddenly jolting as his smile became that much more guilty and his eyes couldn't at all go anywhere near his sensei's face.

"What is Naruto doing?"

Iruka watched as Lee's sweat tripled spontaneously, his body shaking as his eyes went absolutely wild.

"WHAT WOULD MAKE YOU THINK THAT NARUTO IS DOING SOMETHING HE SHOULDN'T BE DOING RIGHT NOW!?"

"You."

Lee seemed almost ready to break, the student blinking in rapid burst as his teacher stared down at him with a look that made it clear that he knew that he'd get what he wanted soon. For a few tense seconds, Iruka just stared down at Lee as the student struggled to not buckle under the pressure.

"Lee, what is Naruto doing?"

Lee bit down on his lips, blood dripping from his mouth as Iruka just continued to calmly stare down at him patiently waiting for his response.

"Lee-"

"I'M SORRY IRUKA SENSEI BUT I SWORE TO NARUTO TO NOT REVEAL HIS ACTIONS UNTIL COMPLETED AND I'M A NINJA OF MY WORD WHO WOULD NEVER BREAK HIS FRIENDS TRUST!"

Iruka just grabbed his nose and shook his head, several _tsk tsk_ sounds leaving him as he gave Lee a disappointed look.

"Plus, it's not as if I'm doing anything wrong in the first place Iruka-sensei. Dattebayo."

Turning to the brash and smug voice coming from the class entrance, Iruka found what was both the bane and bright spot in his tenure as an Academy sensei.

Wearing a foxy grin on his face and a mischievous twinkle in his eyes, Naruto Uzumaki stood proudly in his orange jumpsuit (a pair of green goggles strapped to his forehead) as he looked up to his sensei.

"Excuse me if I find what you say a little hard to believe."

Naruto only chuckled as he walked up to and past his sensei, leaping onto his desk and thrusting finger into the air.

"Listen here everyone! The wait is over! The LEGEND! The BEAST! The ninja who will one day be HOKAGE! Uzamaki Naruto has arrived!" Naruto chuckled to himself, a smirk stretching across is face as he tilted his head down dropping his goggles over his eyes, "Class in now in session, dattebayo."

….

….

….

 _THUMP!_

"Why do you do this?" Naruto asked, moving his goggles up after rubbing the reddening mark atop his forehead.

"I could ask you the same thing." Iruka responded, catching the eraser that had rebounded off of Naruto's skull before once again pulling at his collar in annoyance. "Why are you late to class? What mischief are you planning on causing?"

"Nothing that you need to worry about...yet."

"Naruto?" Iruka glared at his student, his eyes piercing straight through as his mind began the near impossible and immense process of trying to figure out what Naruto was up to this time.

"I've done nothing wrong." Naruto responded cheekily as he fell in between Hinata and Lee, the girl letting out a small eep while the other boy let out a relieved sigh.

"And the Third has lost a battle." Was Iruka's unbelieving response.

"You have no proof."

"When you're involved, my instincts are all I really need to trust."

Naruto put a hand to his chest and feigned a hurt look.

"Your lack of trust hurts me Iruka-sensei."

"Uh-huh," Iruka just shook his head at Naruto, before glaring down at the student once again, "What did you do?"

A wide smile stretched across Naruto's face, his voice taking on that of a taunting trickster.

"You won't find out until it's too late to stop."

"I feel it fair to just give you to detention now then."

Naruto just smirked at his teacher and leaned back.

"If you can catch me."

"And Lee will be joining you as well."

Naruto shot up into a proper sitting position, slamming his hands onto his desk as he looked up at Iruka with a serious look on his face.

"Don't drag Lee into this! He had nothing to do with what I've done."

Iruka gave Naruto an unsure look, his arms crossing as he continued to frown.

"Then why did he seem to know something was up?"

"Because I let him know I'd be doing something, not what I'd be doing."

Iruka gave both Lee and Naruto a hard look for a few moments, before letting out a sigh.

"Okay then, just you Naruto."

Said boy fell back into his seat with a relieved sigh, before smirking to himself. Turning to Lee, Naruto began rubbing the back of his head while cringing slightly.

"Sorry I almost got you dragged into my trouble. Dattebayo!"

"No problem Naruto! You owned up to it, and even if I had been, I'd be fine with it." Lee smiled widely, his teeth somehow giving off a gleam as he gave Naruto a thumbs up, "We're friends after all!"

"Ahahahahah!"

"Pfft-ahaha."

Naruto broke off into laughter as Hinata let out a giggle behind him. After a few moments of Naruto laughing, the boy turned to Hinata and smiled at her.

"How's it going Hinata? Hope your training is going well."

"I-It's going fine Naruto." Herah responded, slightly receding into her coat before slowly forcing herself back out as she softly smiled at Naruto, "How is your training?"

Naruto chuckled and began rubbing the back of his head again.

"It's going as it normally does."

"WIth Lee kicking your ass dobe?"

Iruka let out a sigh as his eyes went up to the upper left portion of the class, where Sasuke Uchiha sat an unengaged and uncaring expression on his face as he looked towards Naruto.

"SHUT UP SASUKE!" Naruto leaped back onto his desk as he pointed towards his classmate with a glare, "I'LL COME UP THERE AND KICK YOUR ASS!"

"As if," Sasuke replied with a scoff, "In terms of taijutsu, Lee's right below Kiba. Which makes him right below average."

"What are you saying about me bastard!?" Kiba shouted at Sasuke, leaping to his feet.

"That you're average mutt," Sasuke told Kiba with barely a glance, before looking back at Naruto, "And you're much lower than Lee dobe. In fact, you still have some of the worst taijutsu scores of the class. Just barely beating out the likes of the Nara, Amburame, and Akimichi."

Iruka watched as Naruto gritted his teeth and glared at the Uchiha, the angry student clearly about to leap towards his source of ire. And said source, could tell exactly that.

"Dobe, if you try to fight me now, you're just going to lose and waste everyone's time. So don't, you're really not worth th-"

 _THUMP!_

Sasuke's head snapped back as a piece of chalk rebounded off of it and back in between Iruka's index and middle finger. The Uchiha let out a slight grunt, before lowering his head back down to look at his teacher. A stern glare was what he got in return.

"Uchiha Sauske, rank 1 overall in class. Number 2 in taijutsu, your **superior** sitting right next to you," Iruka inclined his head towards Neiji Hyuuga, the branch member looking just as uninterested as Sasuke if a bit more respectful overall, "Number 1 in ninjutsu and genjutsu. Number 3 in tracking, the mutt, as you so eloquently put it being at the top and ahead of you in that. Number 2 in information gathering, Sakura beating you-" Said girl let an embarrassed eep, "And finally, number 2 in stealth. Naruto being your **overwhelming** superior. Lee," Iruka pointed towards him, "Might not be at the top but he has been rapidly climbing the ranks in taijutsu to the point that is very much a chance he might eclipse you and Neiji."

By the time Iruka was done, he could tell that Sasuke, while only having his eyes slightly narrowed towards him, was inwardly seething.

"I point all this out to illustrate that while you might be the most well rounded of your peers, you're hardly perfect. I didn't even list off all the grades, but you're not the top in any more." Iruka pulled at his collar once again then looked over the whole class, Naruto and Kiba returning to their seats when his eyes went over them, "And this next bit goes for all of you. As academy students of Konoha and genin hopeful, the most important thing to all of you should never be if you're the strongest amongst your classmates. It should be just how well you can contribute to your team." Iruka began searching the class, "Do any of you know why?"

"Family."

Iruka's eyes darted to Shikamaru, the young man having finally sat up properly with a serious look on his face.

"As ninja of the leaf, our family would no longer just be those related to us by blood. Our family becomes every person in the village, they become the fuel for our flames. Because of this, we fight for and die for them. This all ties back to the Will of Fire, which lives and thrives off of every single villager, strong or weak, big or small, shinobi or civilian. Because it's a promise. A promise to preserve the family that is Konohagakure, no matter what."

Iruka smiled proudly at Shikamaru nodding his head as everyone else just stared at him in shock, that was until he added a little something.

"Mendōkusei, if you all knew this Iruka wouldn't waste time looking over the class critically, which means I could nap in peace."

Iruka felt his eye twitch before letting out a sigh and looking away from his students to sigh.

"What Shikmaru said is correct, and it is that point that I hope to hammer in during your last year here in the academy. It is that factor that will be most heavily considered concerning whether or not you're allowed to become shinobi of the leaf. This is because, as far I and Sandaime-sama are concerned," Iruka once again turned back to the class, his voice taking on a tone that emphasized both the seriousness and importance of his next words, "The strongest shinobi ever is useless if they can neither work with or care for what they protect."

Iruka allowed for his words to hang in the air for a few seconds, once again looking over his class. Nearly every student had gained a serious look of their own, some frowning, some shifting uncomfortably, and a few smirking while nodding. After the few seconds were up, Iruka pulled as his discomforting collar, picked his pencil back up, and went back to calling names again.

"Hyuuga Nej-"

 **BOOM!**

The entire academy shook, as the surprised and horrified shouts of every student and teacher filled the air.

That was every teacher and student except for two.

Iruka gave a quick glance to Naruto, a foxy grin on the boy's face and conniving look in his eyes, before dashing out of his class door and into the newly decorated hallway.

From the floor to the ceiling, from wall to wall, covering every inch imaginable, Iruka found a splatering and dizzying array of neon colors all spelling out: NARUTO UZUMAKI: THE GREATEST SHINOBI AND FUTURE HOKAGE OF THE LEAF VILLAGE. The line came in a variety of sizes and colors, some incredibly small others with Kanjis large enough to be as tall as the wall itself.

"Ahahaha," Iruka chuckled to himself without mirth, his face beginning to turn red, "Oh boy, how could this get worse?"

To answer his question, nearly all the other class doors flew open simultaneously, several other chunin instructors stepping out with wholly new dyeing to their clothing and bodies.

"Iruka," An instructor who now had spikey blond hair and his clothing dyed orange with Naruto's message wrapping around his body, quietly seethed towards Iruka, "Guess what Naruto did to my class?"

"I assume it's the same thing he did to everyone else's class?"

All the other instructors just nodded stiffly.

Iruka pulled at his collar once again before walking back into his classroom and looking at Naruto, the boy still wearing the same expression, and beginning to chuckle.

"Ahahahaha," Iruka's face stretched to accommodate his wide smile, "Oh Naruto, oh Naruto." The instructor balled his fist as his face finally became fully red, "When I get my hands on you, I'm going to wring your neck."

Naruto showed no fear, instead chuckling back at his sensei as he stood up from his desk.

"That's only if you can catch me Iruka-sensei." Naruto's taunt, causing Iruka to bristle slightly.

"What makes you think I'm gonna let you out of this classroom?"

"Iruka-sensei, I bet your collar has been just the slightest bit uncomfortable today."

Iruka's eyes widened as he saw Naruto drop his goggles over his own eyes, just now noticing the newly added welding lenses, before the student made a single seal. Iruka frantically sent chakra into one of his emergency Naruto prank seals, just as beams of light began shooting from his collar and he was engulfed in a blinding flash of light.

"AAHH!"

"Catch you later Iruka-sensei!"

"Dobe! Give that back or I'll murder you!"

"I'm in the same thought as the Uchiha!"

"My chip!

"Choji no!"

 _SMACK!_

"Naruto, you bastard!"

"Kiba, wait."

"Sasuke-kun!"  
"Sasuke-kun!"

"Sakura, Ino wait!"

"Naruto-san stop! Own up to your crimes!"

"W-wait!"

Iruka blinked away his blindness just in time to see Hinata as she stood up and looked unsurely towards the open window that everyone else had surely exited through. For a moment, the girl seemed ready to follow afterward but a quick look at Iruka sent her back towards her seat.

"Hinata-san!"

That was until Lee peeked back in through the window and beckoned for her.

"You're the only other person who won't try to murder Naruto! I need your help."

Iruka felt a smile come to his face as Hinata lit up and dashed to Lee before the two began their pursuit of Naruto.

'That's almost enough to make me not give you detention.' Iruka thought to himself before following his students through the window and getting a good look at the outside of the school.

The newly decorated outside of the school.

"NARUTO!"

" **Children are such terrible but beautiful things. Their ignorance makes them arrogant and dumb, yet this same arrogance and idiocy is something we'd happily die protecting. I wonder who died protecting mine."**

 **Kakashi Hatake**

"How? Just how?"

"How what Iruka–sensei?"

"How all of **this**?"

Iruka gestured wildly towards everywhere as the twelve students who had abandoned class served their detention cleaning up the mess Naruto had created.

"Maaagic." Naruto said, holding his mop in one of his pits as he waved his arms through the air.

 _ **WHAM!**_

"Don't stop cleaning idiot!" Sakura yelled, having smacked him across the back of his head, "We've been at work for three hours, and have only finished fifteen rooms out of the fifty we need to clean!"

"You don't have to be so mean Sakura." Naruto rubbed his head with a wince before getting back to work, "Plus, it's mainly Shino, Lee, and Tenten doing the work. And I don't see you getting on to Shikamaru who just fell asleep again!"

 _ **WHAM!**_

"WAKE UP YOU BUM!"

"Uuugh! Troublesome woman."

"I'll do it again!"

Iruka rolled his eyes as he also returned to his cleaning, taking a wet towel and wiping at the wall.

"But seriously Naruto, how long did it take to plan this?"

"Two months."

"I'm surprised you could give that amount of dedication to anything dobe." Sasuke said uncaringly as he pushed a mop across the ceiling from his place on the floor.

"Fuck off teme!"

 _SMACK!_  
 _SMACK!_

Iruka felt his eye twitch as both Naruto and Sasuke rubbed their heads with a shiny red bump on each of their skulls.

"Don't antagonize each other, am I clear?"

"Yes sensei."  
"Yes sensei."

Shaking his head, Iruka once again renewed his work, another question soon following.

"What even caused this idea to pop into your head?"

"Remembers that time I dyed all of the Hyuuga's clothing pink?"

"Yes." Was the collective reply of everyone present, with Neiji (who was also mopping the floor) adding, "You've yet to explain how you did it?"

"Don't worry about it," Naruto smirked to himself as he ran his mop over the floor, "Anyway, during the planning and on a night I had been practicing the Bunshin no Jutsu, some of my chakra had gotten into one of my bowls of pink dye. Well, it had been pink dye, for whatever reason my chakra had caused it separate into this really cool design of red and white dye. With some practice, I figured out that I could use chakra to control and create long-lasting designs in my dye."

"You want me to believe that you, with your horrendous chakra control, were able to spell that phrase out enough times to not just paint the entire Academy, but nearly every person in it?" Iruka asked, while giving Naruto and completely unbelieving stare.

"Don't got to be a jerk about it," Naruto mumbled under his breath, brooding and looking down with pursed lips.

"Naruto?"

"Hinata and Lee did it for me."

All eyes went to the two mention, Hinata having been on the floor with a rag while Lee had been furiously scrubbing at his remarkably cleaned wall. Now both looked stunned and slightly guilty.

"I thought you said Lee-san didn't know of what you were doing?" This comment came from Shino, the young boy standing still as his bugs engulfed all the area around him, before retracting to reveal clean surfaces.

"He didn't, neither did Hinata." Naruto remarked, his voice tinted with jealously that was most definitely directed at Shino, "When they asked, I just told them it was a supposed to be a present for Iruka-sensei, dattebayo."

"And neither of you thought anything of this?" Iruka watched as both Lee and Hinata gave each other a quick look before looking away from their sensei with abashed faces.

"W-we figured that it was just a prank meant solely for you."

"And both of us thought there wasn't too much harm in letting Naruto have his fun!" Lee abruptly stood upright, putting a hand to his head as he puffed up his chest, "Sensei I apologize for knowingly helping Naruto to prank you and for unknowingly helping him decimate the school!"

"I honestly," Iruka felt his eye twitch, "Don't know how that makes me feel."

"How did you even store all this paint?" Tenten asked, said girl currently using many wires and suspended mops and brooms to rapidly clean everything in sight of her. "The amount of paint bombs that you would need to even do a hundredth of what you did would be easily noticeable."

"Fūinjutsu!" Naruto shouted proudly, the boy sounding overtly smug with himself.

Iruka felt a jolt of terror run through him, as his eyes snapped towards the grinning Naruto.

"That's not funny Naruto," Tenten said, completely oblivious to Iruka's terror, "Even the simplest storage seals for Fūinjutsu can take months for people to learn. And that's without proper calligraphy skills."

"I wasn't joking." Naruto replied with a scowl, before pointing a thumb towards himself, "I learned the seals I needed in about a week, but it kept exploding because it was too messy."

'That's why his handwriting has gotten so much better.' Iruka thought to himself, before walking up to Naruto and giving him a stern look, "What all do you know about sealing Naruto, I want you to tell me **everything**."

Naruto gave Iruka a bit a perplexed look before shrugging.

"I just know how to make storage and explosion seals," Naruto gave a wide smile as excitement poured into his eyes, "I was planning on learning some more though, since Fūinjutsu is a lot easier than I thought it be, dattebayo!"

"Naruto, I need you to make a promise to me."

Iruka watched as Naruto seemed confused by his deathly serious tone, the sensei also noticing how all of his others students paused in their work to watch him as well.

"What?"

"Don't attempt Fūinjutsu by yourself anymore."

Iruka wasn't surprised at all when a scowl came across his orange dressed student's face.

"Why not!? I'm really good at it!"

"Because someone, or even worse, you might get hurt."

"Okay, so my home caught fire a few times!" Naruto shouted, balling his fist, "But I could practice in a training field."

"Your apartment caught-" Iruka paused and just shook his head, "That doesn't make it any safer for yourself."

"So what!?" Naruto turned away from Iruka and let out angry huff, "Why should I have to stop something that I'm good at, just because it's a little dangerous!?"

"Mendōkusei." All eyes went to Shikamaru, the boy looking towards Naruto with an annoyed frown, "He never said you had to stop Naruto. He's just asking that you don't do it by yourself." Shikamaru nodded towards Iruka while letting out a yawn, "I'm pretty sure Iruka-sensei would encourage for you to instead join him in his after-class lessons with Tenten."

"Really!?" Naruto did a complete one-eighty in demeanor, giving Iruka a hopeful smile, "You'll let me join your lessons with Tenten?!"

Iruka's eyes drifted slightly toward Shikmaru, who gave him a tired glare in return.

"Of course Naruto, as long as you promise me to not attempt any new Fūinjutsu by yourself."

"I promise, datteybayo!" Naruto's grin returned as the boy said, "It beats being alone every Wednesday."

Iruka then looked around, realizing that it would be a good while before school was cleaned at their current pace.

"If you kids clean up quick enough, the one who does the most work gets to choose where I take you to eat."

Almost immediately, everyone began to clean with a vigor far greater than before.

 **WHAM!**

"Sakura already whacked you awake you lazy bum! Get to work!"

"Alright, alright. You troublesome woman."

Well, almost everyone.

" **Fuinjutsu is an art to be both feared and respected. It's solved a great many problems, too bad its caused just as much."**

 **Jiraiya The Toad Sage**

Naruto let out a satisfied sigh as he stepped into his home, a small burp following right after he locked his door, feelings of satisfaction and happiness coursing through his head.

"Curry isn't as great as ramen, but it's still pretty good. Lee has a pretty good taste in food."

Naruto turned away from his door and began to traverse his apartment. Said apartment was a mess, ruined and used paper spread haphazardly across the floor, his dining table a mess of seals and supplies for his latest prank, and a pile of dirty laundry existing in one of the dark corners of his living room.

Making his way into his kitchen, Naruto's nose wrinkled at the musk of his home and that of the dirty dishes he had piled up in his sink. Going into his fridge, Naruto gave the carton of milk he had a weary look before choosing his slightly safer option of orange juice. Slamming his fridge shut, the jinchuriki drained his carton and threw it into his obscenely obese trashcan.

Leaving his kitchen, Naruto made his way into his bedroom. Quickly moving past his mess of a futon, Naruto went to one of his two sets of pajamas and gave it a sniff.

'I'm gonna have to wash soon.' Naruto thought to himself as his nose wrinkled before choosing the other pair of pajamas. Putting on his nightcap, Naruto walked over to his futon and laid down.

Looking up at the ceiling the young boy let out another sigh, a memory from earlier in the day rising up to bother him in his solitude.

" _As ninja of the leaf, our family would no longer just be those related to us by blood. Our family becomes every person in the village, they become the fuel for our flames. Because of this, we fight for and die for them. This all ties back to the Will of Fire, which lives and thrives off of every single villager, strong or weak, big or small, shinobi or civilian. Because it's a promise. A promise to preserve the family that is Konohagakure, no matter what."_

"How do I know how to preserve a family when I've never even had one?"

Silence was all Naruto got in reply.

"If I had a family I bet I could answer that."

Naruto continued to stare up at the ceiling for over an hour, until he let out a groan and sat up.

"You know what, if I'm not going to sleep, I can at least train."

Naruto walked back into his living room and cleared an area on his floor as best as he could. With a somewhat clean spot, the blond boy sat down and crossed his legs before closings his eyes and focusing on his chakra. As normally done when looking to do anything with his chakra, Naruto searched deep within himself until he found this wild and ever going whirlpool of spiritual and physical energy that was within his body. It felt immense and uncontrollable, as if it was just barely contained within his physical form. In fact, he could feel just the barest amounts of energy leaking from him and dispersing into the air.

Naruto felt all this, and as always, he pulled at it.

However, this time, something... New occurred.

For just a split moment, Naruto felt the flash of something monstrous and corrupted taint his own chakra before suddenly a buzzing feeling was felt throughout his entire body and the soft hum of electricity filled the air.

And then for that single moment, Naruto felt himself falling.

This was quickly followed by him feeling his body suddenly halt and the brushing of cool air against his legs.

Feeling confused by all of what had just happened, Naruto opened his eyes, looked down and found something that caused his eyes to widen in terror.

The lower half of his body had phased through the floor.

And he was now stuck with half his body outside and half his body inside.

So, he did what came naturally to him.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

He screamed and began trying to pull himself fully back into his living room.

"SHUT THE HELL UP YOU BRAT!" The croaky voice of old lady sounded from the immediate apartment to his right. "IT'S TWELVE IN THE MORNING!"

"HELP ME PLEASE!" Naruto shouted back in terror, his effort to get out of the floor continuingly coming up futile.

"DON'T THINK THAT JUST BECAUSE THE GREAT THIRD LIKES THAT I WON'T KICK YOU OUT YOU ROWDY LITTLE SHIT!"

"RIGHT NOW, I'D GIVE ANYTHING TO BE HOMELESS!" Naruto shot back to his landlord, his voice coming out both angry and scared.

"IF YOU'RE GONNA BE UNGRATEFUL ABOUT IT, I'LL DO IT RIGHT NOW!"

Naruto then heard his landlord jump up from bed, walk out her room, and towards his door.

 **BANG!**  
 **BANG!**  
 **BANG!**  
 **BANG!**  
 **BANG!**

"OPEN UP!"

"I CAN'T!"

"WHY NOT!?"

"I'M STUCK IN THE FLOOR!"

"DON'T YOU MESS WITH ME!"

"I'M NOT KIDDING!"

Hearing the rustling of keys and a stream of curses from his landlord Naruto continued his hopeless struggle to pull himself out of the floor.

"I BEEN SICK AND TIRED OF YOU AND YOUR CRAP FOR TOO LONG SO NOW IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO GE-"

Naruto looked up and found his landlord dressed in a pink nightgown and sleeping hat looking at him shock.

"WHAT HAPPENED TO YOU!?"

"I DON'T KNOW, BUT PLEASE HELP ME AYAMA-SAMA!"

Ayama rushed over to Naruto and began pulling on his arms to get him out of the ground.

"UUUUUGGHH!" The woman groaned out as she struggled to pull Naruto out of his current predicament.

"Pull harder, please!" Naruto pleaded with Ayama, causing her to put all her strength into one final pull before falling back and onto her butt.

Rising back to her feet, the old lady rubbed her behind before furiously rubbing her hair as she continued to look upon Naruto's trapped form.

"I'm too weak to pull you out," The woman's voice came out frantic and worried before she snapped her fingers and rushed out of Naruto's apartment.

"WAIT NO! DON'T LEAVE ME HERE!"

It'd be an hour before help arrived once again, Naruto having spent said hour attempting to wrench himself from his floor.

"OH KAMI," Naruto cried out to the ceiling above, flailing his legs as much as possible, "PLEASE DON'T LET ME DIE LIKE THIS!"

"Naruto, my boy, how did this even happen?"

The sound of an old but warm man's voice coming from his doorway, caused Naruto to look up and see the Sandaime Hokage standing there calmly smoking from his pipe.

"JIJI!" Naruto shouted in joy and hope, reaching out to the old man as he continued to struggle, "OH I'M SO GLAD YOU'RE HERE! PLEASE HELP ME!"

Sarutobi gave a glance behind him, Naruto seeing that his landlady was there still looking as worried as earlier, before walking up to Naruto and crouching down to his level. The hokage-hopeful watched as the old man took his own hand and rested it atop his head, the man's foreign chakra beginning to course through his body. It was warm and surprisingly gentle; a fleeing strength being felt through it as it covered every inch of Naruto's body

After a mere moment of this, Sarutobi rose up and did a single-handed seal, before a clone puffed into existence behind him and walked out of the apartment. With that done, the old man let out a heavy sigh as he gave Naruto a mournful look.

"So I have some good news and some bad news Naruto." Sarutobi said, his voice sounding heavy and sad.

"Good news first please?" Naruto pleaded, fear and worry welling up in him.

"I can get you out."

"Oh thank Kami-"

"But I'm going to need to cut off your legs."

All the color drained from Naruto's face as he looked back at Sarutobi with wide eyes and an agape mouth.

"Wh-what?"

"In order to get you out, I have to cut off your legs. It's the only way." The third Hokage continued to look at Naruto with his sad expression, another sigh leaving him as he shook his head.

"Please anything but that." Naruto shook his head placing his hands atop of it as he failed to come to terms with Hiruzen's words. "Anything but that."

"It's the only way we have available."

"You might as well kill me then because I can't be a ninja without my le-"

Naruto felt two warm, gentle hands grab onto his legs. Looking down, the boy broke out into a cold sweat as realization flowed through him.

"Oh no!" He looked back up to a now ashamed looking Sarutobi, "That's why you made the clone, IT'S GOING TO TAKE MY LEGS!"

"Yes Naruto," The third Hokage said quietly, "Now please hold still."

"No, no, no-"

But before Naruto could even attempt to struggle he felt the Third Hokage's chakra feel him once again, and that same buzzing feeling from earlier and the electrical hum returned.

As did the feeling of falling.

"KAMI PLEASE NO!" Naruto shouted, shutting his eyes closed as he prepared for the agony to come.

But instead of the horrible feeling of his legs getting ripped off, Naruto felt himself being held firmly and safely within the arms of someone else. Opening his eyes slowly, Naruto looked at where the lower half of his body was supposed to be-

"Got you Naruto."

-and found it still there.

Naruto let out a relieved sigh as he fell back and his heart slowed in its frantic beating. Putting a hand to his chest, Naruto began to laugh for a moment before confusion overcame him.

"Wait," Naruto sat up looked at the smiling face of Sarutobi, "Are you telling me that was all a joke!?"

"Yup."

 **WHOMP!**

 **POOF!**

"THAT WASN'T FUNNY!" Naruto shouted as the sounds of both Sarutobi and Ayama laughing reached him, before the Third Hokage appeared before Naruto and rested a hand on his shoulder.

"Oh don't be too cross Naruto, just think of this as a little payback for all the trouble and paperwork you've caused me." Sarutobi's warm and joking tone only caused Naruto to fume as he stuck out his lip and began to pout.

"I was terrified for my life!"

"But now you're safe aren't you?"

"That still doesn't make up for what you've done!" Naruto shouted again, crossing his arms and shaking his head furiously.

Sarutobi only chuckled before smiling at Naruto.

"Well, why don't I make it up to you by telling you more good news?"

"Oh, and what is that?" Naruto asked, crossly never expecting to hear the next words that left the Third Hokage.

"You have a Kekkei Genkai."

 **GLOSSARY:**

 **Tairitsu no In - Seal of Confrontation**

 **Watai no In - Seal of Reconciliation**

 **Tōbu Infurēshon no Jutsu- Head Enlargement Technique**

 **Mendōkusei- Troublesome**

 **Hope you enjoyed, and can't wait to show you what I have in store for next time. If you have any thoughts, it'd be a pleasure to hear and see them in the reviews.**


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